Oranges, Arance

Though Sicilians are very proud about all food produced on their island, they are exceptionally passionate about their citrus fruits. Arance,in particular, are the pride and joy of Sicily. 

Here the Arance fall into one of three basic categories: 

Your classic orange colored Arancia, often referred to as Brasiliana (Brazilian), l'Arancia Vaniglia (Vanilla Orange), and l'Arancia Rossa, the Blood Orange. 

Peeling an Orange, the Sicilian Way

Whenever I ate oranges growing up, which I avoided whenever possible, it was a fairly unpleasant experience. The oranges were quartered and served with the peel still attached, and was thus eaten in a watermelon fashion. Bite too deep, you get a bunch of pith stuck between your teeth. Not deep enough and you squirt juice all over yourself.

Then I came to Sicily and discovered that there is indeed a better way to eat an orange... without the peel and extra pith. Though some Sicilians get really fancy with spiral peeling (Zia Michela once peeled an entire honeydew melon in one long spiral), the below instructions are for the basic "wedge" method of peeling.

L'abbazia di Santo Spirito

The Abbey of the Holy Spirit, the oldest church in Caltanissetta, can be found just outside of the city and right next to the Museo Archeologico. Though the exact date of construction is unknown, it is assumed to have been built around 1092. The earliest date of which historians are sure, is the year of official consecration in 1153, thanks to a commemorative plaque.

Presepe

Church Presepe frequently take up a whole wall

The Nativity scenes in Sicily are a much bigger deal then they are in the U.S. From what I've seen of the U.S. Nativity scenes, there's usually just a basic stable with the most fundamental biblical characters: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Animals, and the three Kings, occasionally joined by Angels and Shepherds.

The Italian Presepe meanwhile is less a Nativity Scene than it is a Nativity City, filled with biblical and non-biblical characters alike. Shoemakers, Pizzaioli, figures playing cards, women doing laundry... And in the churches the Presepe gets even bigger. Not just little villages, but entire mountains and rivers with real running water and moving figures: men waving fruit in the market, blacksmiths pounding horseshoes, little boys tossing fishing lines in the river, etc.

La Campagna

One of many lemon trees in the Campagna

La Campagna, or "The Country", is used to describe a small cottage kept in the countryside just outside of the city. The Italian concept of "countryside" in this case is much more like an American suburb, though if you consider that most Italians live in crowded apartment buildings without any kind of yard or garden, a little house surrounded by a small plot of land must feel like the great outdoors.  

Making Change

Getting short changed in Italy is commonly accepted

One of the first annoying things I discovered about Italy is every cashier's extreme reluctance to break a 20. I was in Rome on a class trip, and on the first day our professors took us around to some of the museums. Naturally, having just arrived, we did not have an abundance of loose change. Each of us had whatever the ATM machines had given us, predominately 20s and 50s.

Peep! Peep!

Zia Daniela and her little girl, Martina, have come to visit.

Martina, still too shy to speak much, is sitting happily on a chair which she has commandeered all for herself, and being spoon-fed bits of cream gelato.

When Dialects Clash

The wide range of dialects that can be found in Italy has always been rather fascinating to me; so much diversity across relatively little space. However, I hadn't considered the dangers of these language differences until a friend played this lovely song for me: La Ficcanaso by Sabrina Musiani

Scopa

Scopa (meaning "broom" or "to sweep") is a very popular card game here in Sicily and is played with a traditional deck of Sicilian cards.

In a Sicilian deck, the cards have four suites:

Bastoni (clubs)
Spade (spades)
Aremi or Denari (coins)
Coppe (cups)

The value of each card is represented by the number of objects on the card (1-7)

There are also three character cards for each suite:

La Donna (The Woman/Maiden) = 8 points
Il Cavallo (The Horse) = 9 points
Il Re (The King) = 10 points

If you don't have any Sicilian cards on hand, normal playing cards can be substituted. Just pull out the Jack, Queen, and King, and designate one of the suites to be the "coin" suite.

The Language of the Elderly

The other day, AmoreMio and I went to visit the Nonna Michela (his mother's mother). When we got there though, we found that the Nonna already had company; the mother of the husband of her daughter (which would be AmoreMio's aunt's mother-in-law). Confused yet? I know the feeling.

We sat down with them to chat for a bit, and a couple things came to my attention.

Everyone's a Critic

As soon as our front door opens, the little girl shoots in with the energy that can only come with great curiosity combined with inappropriate quantities of sugar. Her mother is unconcerned, and with barely a glance at her 4 year old cannon rocketing around our small flat, she goes to the living room to talk with AmoreMio about private chemistry lessons for her elder daughter.

In the mean time, the little girl sprints through every room three times, questions streaming from her mouth as fast as she can breathe.